Showcase gives students glimpse of local manufacturing

Five thousand eighth grade students from Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens County visit the Anderson Civic Center to see business industry booths.
Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail

Ben Gilliam, left, Connor Pilgrim, and Brodey Conn, right, take notes at the Borg Warner booth during the Anderson Oconee Pickens County Schools Business Showcase at the Civic Center of Anderson on Tuesday.(Photo: Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail)

Barely a month into her eighth-grade school year, Tamara Boysworth is already thinking about a career in engineering.

For Boysworth, that made Tuesday's visit to the Anderson-Oconee-Pickens Business & Industry Showcase something akin to a county fair.

"All the business people are willing to take as much time as you want and talk about what they do. It's really interesting," the Pickens Middle School student said late Tuesday morning. "This gives you an idea of what you're interested in, how stuff works, and helps you see what you want to do."

Boysworth, 14, was 5,000 eighth-grade students from 21 middle schools who were expected to see the showcase during its two-day run at the Civic Center of Anderson. The program, now in its ninth year, enables students to get a first-hand glimpse of the products made by local manufacturers, and in some cases how they are made.

It gave Dacusville Middle student Alex Suttles a chance to do some virtual-reality welding.

"It felt like I was really welding," said Suttles, who had hoped to find some military-related booths at the showcase, which concludes Wednesday morning.

The focus of the program, now in its third year at the Civic Center and ninth year overall, is to expose students to less familiar careers, so they can make informed choices when they school schedules over the next three years.

"A lot of people think eighth-graders are young, but this spring they'll be making choices that determine college and career choices," said Rick Murphy, a South Carolina Department of Commerce spokesman and a regional workforce advisor for the Anderson-Oconee-Pickens Showcase. "It's a chance for them to see that a business they've rode past many times is connected to math classes they've been taking.

"We're blessed in this area to have a lot of job opportunities, and a growing number of employers," Murphy said. "The hope is that some of these kids will see something at the showcase that will get them interested in working there, and they'll also realize that 'I've got to do well in classes to get there.'"

South Carolina CED Executive Director Trent Acker said the annual event can open career fields that most students didn't know where near their homes.

"Some of the kids have an idea what a doctor or a nurse does," Murphy said, "but they have no idea what companies like Bosch, Borg-Warner, or ITT do. They get to see that and interact with people from those businesses. When I was 13 or 14, I had no idea what Shaw Industries did.

"I think it's an effective way to expose students to fields they haven't thought about," Murphy said.

Eighth grade students from Glenview and Robert Anderson Middle Schools in Anderson, seen in motion and standing still with a longer camera time exposure, visit booths of local businesses during the Anderson Oconee Pickens County Schools Business Showcase at the Civic Center of Anderson on Tuesday. An estimated 5,000 eighth graders will visit the event over two days.(Photo: Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail)

Rusty Burns, left, Anderson County Administrator, Burriss Nelson, middle, Economic Development Manger/Director, listen to Jerry Wayman at the Borg Warner booth while eighth grade students from R.C. Edwards Middle School look at other booths during the Anderson Oconee Pickens County Schools Business Showcase at the Civic Center of Anderson on Tuesday.(Photo: Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail)